Chapter 4

I awoke with my alarm the next morning, angrily slamming down the 'off' button. Sitting up, I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, grumbling. "Stupid Uncle... making this party short notice... Gonna kick his ass when I get the chance... thinks he can order me around through Mika..."

I rose out of bed, feeling the sheets slip off of my nude body. I stretched my arms above my head, attempting to wake myself up. Before anything got done this morning, I needed a shower. Grabbing my towel and slipping my bathrobe on, I peeked out my door. Seeing that the coast was clear, I dashed out and made a beeline for the bathroom.

Once inside, I shut and locked the door. Didn't want Erik getting bold, after all. I kinda liked the guy, and would've hated to have to beat him up. Even if I wouldn't be able to hurt him very much.

I showered quickly, enjoying the scent of my jasmine infused shapmoo and conditioner fill the room. Once I got out, I wrapped my towel around me and placed my robe over my arm. I unlocked and poked my head out of the door to check if the coast was clear. Confirming it was, I dashed back to my room.

I could faintly hear Mika's door opening and closing, but paid it no mind. I dried off as best as I could, brushing my hair so it would dry better. Throwing on a pair of skinny jeans and a berry colored tank top, I checked myself over. Frowning, I decided to add more color to my outfit by wrapping a golden yellow and black flannel around my waist.

There, that's better, I thought to myself with a pleased grin. Gold and yellow always go well with purple tones.

And with that, I headed downstairs. As I got to the main lobby, the smell of breakfast filled my nose and my mouth watered. "Ooooh, something smells wonderful!"

I practically skipped into the dining room, a wide grin on my face. I saw that Mika was already there, and took a seat next to her. "Morning, kiddo! Sleep well?" I asked.

"Uh, well..."

"She had a nightmare," answered Damien as he disappeared into the kitchen.

I frowned, looking at her in concern. "You okay? Do I need to do the thing that would help you as a kid?"

Mika blushed, embarrassed. "NO. No, you don't. It's fine, Serenity, really. I'm fine."

I shrugged. "Alright, but if you need me at all, I'm only three doors past your room, okay?"

Mika nodded as Sam came in, ruffling her hair. "Morning. You alright?"

I frowned. "Did everybody know she had a nightmare except me?"

"Basically," answered the gruff boy, plopping down into the seat on Mika's other side. He then looked towards the kitchen and yelled, "HEY! IS THE FOOD DONE YET? I'M STARVING!"

I flinched slightly at his volume, covering my ears. "Dammit, Sam, don't yell! The house may be big, but geez, the kitchen is only twenty feet away."

"Hey! You're being loud too!"

"That's only because my ears are shot and this is the only way I can hear myself right now," I countered, glaring at him.

Erik came in behind us and sat at the end chair, rubbing his temple. "Can we not yell this early in the morning? It's not like we're in the castle."

"Castle?!" Mika and I squawked in unison.

Sam leaned forward and looked down at us with a smirk. "Yeah, we have a castle back home. Our dining room is ten times bigger than this room."

"Then wouldn't it be logical NOT to yell?" Erik asked pointedly.

Sam rolled his eyes, slouching in his chair. "Pff. Whatever."

A few seconds later, Damien re-emerged from the kitchen with James, both of them carrying plates of eggs, bacon, toast, and waffles. I gaped, my eyes going wide as my mouth watered.

"Mmm! My favorite!" Erik leaned forward in his chair, eager.

"I swear, you boys are going to spoil us," I laughed. "We may not let you leave if you're going to keep making such awesome food."

James chuckled at my compliment, taking the chair at the opposite end of Erik's. "It's our pleasure, Lady Serenity. Please, dig in."

All of a sudden, Mika's phone began to ring. I sighed, smiling a little. "Girl, what is it with people and bothering you when you're about to eat?"

She quickly answered, and I felt my eyebrow twitch. She knows how I am about calls at the table...

"Hello?" There was a pause, then a couple of knocks at the front door sounded. I thought for a split second, then paled.

"Oh no, don't tell me-!"

"I'll get it!" called Matthew cheerfully.

"Oh crap, they did, didn't they?" I asked her. At her nod, I dashed with her to the front door. However, by the time we got there, Matthew had opened the door and were locked in an awakward staring contest with Suzu and Naomi.

I twitched, anxious and very much at a loss for words. Mika was no better, and looked pale as a ghost.

Matthew looked between the two girls at the door, then awkwardly said, "Uhh... H-hi...?"

I facepalmed and tried counting to ten. Multiple times. This was not our morning.

Suzu gave him a critical once-over. "Who... are you?"

"S-Suzu, let me explain!" Mika squeaked.

"What's going on here?" asked Naomi, looking concerned and confused.

To make matters worse, the other boys came in, Erik at the front. "Who was at the door, Matthe-? Oh."

Mika facepalmed as well, and I had to think fast. "U-uhm, these guys are... our servants!" I said brightly, trying not to panic.

"Huh? You never mentioned them before, Serenity," Naomi said, tilting her head slightly in question.

I then began to panic a little. However, James placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. Looking up at him, he gave me the slightest shake of his head and a smile before looking at the two confused girls. "We must apologize, ladies. We know this situation must be confusing for everyone. Let's take this to the dining room and we'll explain everything."

Mika and I let out a breath of relief. James and I turned and led the rest of them into the dining room. Glancing up at him, I whispered, "Thank you; I thought I was going to have a minor panic attack."

"It is no problem, my lady," he murmured, a kind smile on his handsome face.

Soon, Mika, Naomi, Suzu, and I were seated at the table. Erik and Matthew pulled out their chairs, seating them like proper gentlemen. James had pulled out mine and Mika's chairs.

"Whoa! This looks amazing!" enthused Suzu, looking at the breakfast feast before us.

"Thank you!" Naomi chirped, grinning wide.

"Our pleasure, ladies. We hope you enjoy your meals." Erik gave them a charming smile as he said this, and boy were they charmed.

"Make sure you dig in!" Matthew encouraged, a boyish grin on his face.

With eager expressions, they both began to eat, and Mika and I followed suit. I still felt very tense; hopefully the boys didn't mind me saying they were our servants. I felt a blush form on my face as they just stood behind Mika and I, and as I glanced over, I saw that she was in a similar state.

"So, Anderson one and two, are you guys gonna tell us what's going on?" Suzu asked around the small mouthful of toast she was chewing.

"W-well, you see... uh..."

I saw James place a hand on Mika's shoulder as she trailed off, and she kept eating. He then answered, "We're house servants for both Miss Andersons. We were hired by their late grandfather to help around the mansion shortly before he passed. Now, with the mansion belonging to Miss Mika and Miss Serenity, we work for them."

"That makes sense. It's such a huge house!"

Erik smiled at Naomi. "A huge house for wonderful princesses such as the young Miss Andersons deserves the greatest of servants to care for it."

Suzu quirked her brow. "But why are you all dressed so casually and stuff? Aren't servants supposed to have uniforms or whatever?"

I spoke up before any of the boys could say anything. "Can you really see my grandfather or I making these good looking guys wear uniforms all the time?" I asked, smiling. "Grandpa wanted them to feel comfortable while working, so he had no problems with them wearing casual clothes."

Mika gave my leg a slight bump with her foot in thanks as Naomi and Suzu nodded. "True; your grandfather was sweet like that," intoned the former.

Damien gave them an apologetic smile. "We're sorry if we made the situation awkward earlier."

"We're very sure that both Miss Andersons are also still getting used to having us as their servants. It would be very hard to explain after so little time," reasoned James.

Both girls nodded in understanding, and I relaxed. I continued eating as Erik asked, "So, if I may ask, what brings you two ladies here?"

"Well, we wanted to see how our friends were doing," answered Naomi with a bright grin. "Since it's the weekend and all, usually we hang out and just chill with them. Well, Serenity joins us if she doesn't have a class, I should say," she amended.

"Yeah! We go to the arcade and stuff," added Suzu, leaning back in her chair.

"Or the Pink Lady Cafe," Naomi tacked on.

Matthew seemed to bounce where he stood. "There's an arcade?!"

James cleared his throat. "Ahem. That makes a lot of sense, ladies. Well, we don't wish to disturb you any further than we have, so we'll take our leave and start preparing the house."

"Huh? Preparing for what?" asked Naomi.

"We gotta prep the house for some sort of housewarming party thing," answered Sam, his tone less than enthusiastic.

"Our youngest princess's parents have requested a housewarming party to be held here soon," said Erik, elaborating a bit.

Mika and I sighed. "And by soon, they mean tonight," Mika confessed, looking drained already.

Suzu immediately perked up, her expression serious. "Oh, well, I guess we can help out or something, right Naomi?"

"I thought you wanted to go to the arcade?"

"This housewarming thing is more important." I smiled; Suzu wasn't normally this responsible, but when she was, it was sincere.

"No need. We can handle it," James assured them before looking at Mika and I. "If you'd like to, ladies, you can both go out with your friends while we handle things here."

"...seriously?" Sam inquired in a flat tone.

"Sam, not now," murmured Damien.

I shook my head, giving James a small smile. "Nope; I'm going to stay and help. I'm in charge of picking out the music; I can easily do that either while helping one of you out, or before we all get started."

Mika nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I'd rather stay and help too."

"Are you guys sure?" asked Matthew.

I nodded. "Yeah; like I said, I'm the DJ for the night," I said jokingly.

"Exactly; and it's my parents that asked for it," added Mika. "I should stay and help, too."

"Want us to help out as well?"

I shook my head at Suzu. "Don't worry, bambina, we can handle this."

"We can take care of it. Thanks though." Mika grinned at her two best friends, and I couldn't help but smile myself. They really were the best friends I could ask for Mika to have.

"Alright. We'll head out then so we're not in the way!" Naomi chirped, rising from her chair, Suzu following suit.

"Sorry, guys! I'll hang out with you guys soon!"

"Same here; as long as I'm free for that day," I added.

"It's all good! We'll definitely come to the housewarming party tonight!" promised Suzu, throwing up a peace sign.

I chuckled. "Thanks, girls. Oh, as for clothes, I suggest going at least semi-formal," I advised. "Knowing Uncle David, he's only invited company big whigs and is trying to pawn Mika off as CEO material again."

They both frowned, but nodded. "Alright; we'll go shopping and pick something up."

I gave Naomi a smile, knowing she would help Suzu out in that department. Rising, Mika and I led them out the door and bid them farewell until the evening. When we returned to the dining room, the plates of food had been cleared.

"Alright, what needs to be done to prepare for the party?" asked James.

Mika and I shared a glance, then began to think. "Well, it's been awhile since the yard has been cleared up. And the lobby is probably where it's going to be held, so that should be cleaned up a bit, too," I advised.

"The garden should probably be checked on," added Mika. "And we should also prepare some food and lay it out in here buffet style in case people get hungry."

The boys nodded, taking everything in. Materializing a piece of paper and a pen, James wrote it all down before looking at me. "And you said that you would handle the music selection?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but I can do that fairly quickly, so I'll be able to help with something else. The garden is kind of my baby, so I'll most likely help whoever is going to work on that."

James nodded, then looked at Mika. "I'm sure you have homework, Miss. We'll let you do that before the rest of us begin working. That should also give you enough time to select the music, Lady Serenity," he added, his gaze turning back to me.

Mika and I nodded, then got up and went upstairs. She went to her room, while I went the opposite direction. Grandpa had indulged me and set up a room where I could dance and listen to my music; both were fierce passions of mine. Stepping inside, I went over to the bookshelf that held all of my CDs. Some were storebought, but most of them were made by me.

Each of my homemade CDs were for either different occasions, seasons, moods, or were basically 'Best Of' mixes. I marked them all on the book shelf, of course, so it would be easier to organize them. Running my finger along the third shelf, I grinned. "Aha! There you are!"

I pulled out a CD that was labeled 'Piano Music: Classic and Not So Much'. Looking on the back, I went over the list of songs and nodded. "Yeah, this should do it. If I set the player on repeat, no one will notice. Makes it a bit easier on me. Though... Just in case..."

I looked over my CDs again, then pulled out another disc. This one was labeled 'Soft Orchestral'. Sighing, I rolled my eyes. "Just in case my uncle realizes the first CD is on repeat..."

I groaned, thunking my head on the wall. This is going to be a very long day and night...